


The Telescope

by lovethecoat51



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-18
Updated: 2014-02-18
Packaged: 2018-01-12 23:11:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1204027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovethecoat51/pseuds/lovethecoat51
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim hasn't been back to the dorm for a few days, and Leonard finds him in a surprising place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Telescope

Jim hadn’t been back to their room in a few days. 

Leonard was used to him disappearing at odd hours, but he normally at least checked in - and by ‘checked in,’ he meant that his roommate had an annoying habit of spamming his comm with random messages about where he was. To the casual observer, it was just Jim being Jim. To Leonard, it was Jim letting him know he was okay and to not worry (not that it always stopped him).

But there had mostly been radio silence for the past few days, and while it was the week of finals and Jim had at least been seen in his classes, Leonard was starting to worry. As soon as he got off his shift at the clinic, he texted Jim, asking where he was.

The answer was almost immediate.

_Text message from: Captain Awesome  
astro-lab. one wiht teh telescope_

Well, that was weird. Leonard knew Jim’s schedule by heart, and knew he didn’t have any astronomy classes this semester. So why the hell was he there?

Leonard grabbed some take away from the Indian place they liked - mostly because it was directly between their dorm and the clinic and therefore easy to find an excuse to eat there - and headed for the astrology lab. The telescope Jim spoke of was up on the top floor, in a large domed room. He didn’t know much about the device, other than it was rarely used. They had much better gadgets, much  _smaller_ gadgets for the cadets to use, much more similar to the things they would use on an actual starship. 

No one lugged around telescopes anymore.

So it wasn’t difficult to find Jim in the telescope lab, the sole occupant in the whole wide room. He was curled up against the glass dome, PADDs and books surrounding him. His head lifted as soon as he heard Leonard’s footsteps, and he smiled.

"For me?" He asked, eyeing the bag of food.

"For us," Leonard corrected him and sat down beside him. "You eaten yet today?"

"I grabbed something on my way here."

"Yeah, and when did you come here?"

"Like…. nine this morning," Jim answered, looking a little sheepish.

“ _Eat_ ,” Leonard insisted as he took the PADD from Jim and replaced it with a fork. “What are you doing here anyway?”

"I came for the telescope."

"You know that makes absolutely no sense."

"Go look." Jim pointed at the telescope, specifically at the plaque at the bottom of it.

Leonard frowned, not wanting to get up when he had  _just_  sat down, but curiosity got the better of him. “Says it was dedicated back in 2227, and a list of names. What’s so special abou-  _oh_.”

As Leonard kept reading through the names, he saw what made it special. Somewhere in the middle of the twenty or so names was “George Kirk” immediately followed by “Winona Nolan.”

"Near as I can figure, it’s how they met." Jim’s voice was light and easy, but Leonard could hear the strain underneath it all. He didn’t say anything, just walked back to his spot next to Jim and sat back down to grab some of the naan bread before Jim shoved it all in his mouth.

"Seems like a good place to study." That was it. That was all he said. He didn’t need to say how significant this discovery was, they both knew well what it meant to Jim. They didn’t need to cheapen it with heavy-handed words. The smile Jim gave him, the silent ‘thank you’ that it contained, was all the answer Leonard needed.


End file.
